31 THE POLAU VVOP.LD. 



CHAPTER II. 



ARCTIC LAND QUADKUPEDS AND BIRDS. 



Th3 Rcimlccr. — Structure of its Foot. — Clattcrinj? Noise when walking.— Antlers. — Extrnordinary 

 oKuctorv Power.s. — The IccliiiuHc Mo^.s. — Present and Former Range of the Reindeer. — Its invalu- 

 nlilc (jiKilitics as an Arctic dunvjstic Animal. — Revolts against Oppression. — En(niics of the Rein- 

 th-cr.— Tlu' Wt.lf.— The (Hutton (T Wolverint'.— Gad-flies.— Tlie KIk or Moose-deer.— The Miisk- 

 ox. — The Wild Sheep of the Rocky Mountains. — The Siberian Argali. — The Arctic Fox. — Its IJur- 

 niws. — The Lemmings. — Their Migrations and I'^nemies. — Arctic Anatida;. — The Siiou -bunting. — 

 The I.apland IJunling. — The Sea-eagle. — Drowned by a Dolphin. 



''I'^IIE reindeer may well be called the camel of the northern wastes, for it is 

 -■- a no less valuable comi^anion to the Laplander or to the Samojede than the 

 " ship of the desert" to the wandering Bedouin. It i.s the only member of the j 

 numerous deer family that has been domesticated by man ; but thcugh un- 

 doubtedly the most useful, it is by no means the most comely of its race. Its 

 clear, dark eye has, indeed, a beautiful expression, but it has neither the noble 

 proportions of the stag nor the grace of the roebuck, and its thick square-form- 

 ed body is far from being a model of elegance. Its legs are short and tliick, 

 its feet broad, but extremely Avell adapted for walking over the snow or on a 

 swampy ground. The front hoofs, -which are capable of great lateral expansion, 

 curve upward, while the two secondary ones behind (which are but slightly 

 developed in the fallow deer and other members of the family) are considera- 

 bly prolonged : a structure which, by giving the animal a broadev base to stand 

 upon, ])revents it from sinking too deeply into the snow or the morass. Had 

 the foot of the reindeer been formed like that of our stag, it would have been 

 as unable to drag the Laplander''s sledge Avith such velocity over the yielding 

 snow-fields as the camel would be to perform his long marches through the 

 desert without the broad elastic sole-pad on which he firmly paces tlie unsta- 

 ble sands. 



The short legs and broad feet of the reindeer likewise enable it to swim with 

 greater ease — a power of no small imj»()rtancc in countries abounding in rivers 

 and lakes, :ni(l where the scarcity of food renders perpetual migrations necessa- 

 v\'. When the reindeer Avalks or merelv moves, a remarkable clatterincr sound 

 is heard to some distance, about the cause of which naturalists and travellers 

 by no means agree. Most ]irobably it I'esults from the great length of the two 

 digits of the cloven hoof, which when the animal sets its foot upon the ground 

 separate widely, and when it again raises its hoof suddenly clap against each 

 other. 



A long mane of a dirty white color hangs from the neck of the reindeer. In | 

 summer the body is brown above and wliite beneath ; in Avinter, long-haired 

 and white. Its antlers are very different from those of the stag, having broad 

 palmatcd summits, and branching back to the length of three or four feet 



